Trojans place second at Divisional, advance 22 to state

The Trojans traveled to Emery High School in Castle Dale last weekend for the 3A Boys Divisional B Tournament and returned home with the second place team trophy, five individual titles and 22 wrestlers qualified for the 3A State Tournament Feb.16-17 in Richfield. In the team competition, Morgan scored 280.5 points to South Summit’s 312.5.  North Sanpete took third (175.5) and Emery fourth (161.5).  

Individually, Treyson Rich (215), Zak Sargent (190), Drew Korth (144), Luke Woolsey (132) and Ryler Jorgensen (120) all claimed divisional titles while Carter Wardell (106), Simoron Wardell (138), Tyson Pace (150), and Lance Toone (175), advanced to their championship matches and placed second.

“I’m so very proud of these boys,” Coach Kelly Wilson said.  “I knew they would do a great job, but I’m so happy with nine finalists and five champions. We had six kids place third!”

“Placing third takes a lot of guts and work to come back after a loss, especially an early loss,” he said. “I’m proud that they didn’t give up and kept working hard.”

He continued, “It’s exciting to be taking 22 boys to state and for them to have the opportunity to continue to battle and wrestle like they have the last two weeks!”

In the 215 pound weight class, Morgan’s Treyson Rich and Ezra Cadena met each other in the semifinals. Rich prevailed by fall 3:49 and went on to win the title, pinning his South Summit opponent in 3:33. Cadena won two matches by fall (:34; 2:23) after his loss in the semis and took third.

“Rich’s pin in the finals was over an opponent who pinned him at our last match. It was a great comeback for Treyson to get the win.“

Zak Sargent (190) pinned his way through the tournament. He opened with a 1:16 pin over Carbon, and in the semifinals, he pinned his Summit Academy competition in 2:30. Sargent won the title bout with a 1:21 pin over South Summit’s Oscar Dominguez. Also at 190 pounds, Gabe Toone earned fourth.

Drew Korth earned his divisional championship in the 144-pound weight class with bonus points all the way. He opened with a pin (2:53), followed it with a tech fall in the semis (16-1 (4:41)) and then majored Richfield’s Drexton Torgerson in the finals (16-4). Kwayde Meibos also placed ninth at 144 pounds and is an alternate for state.

“Drew wrestled his match and kept his head,” Wilson said. “He did a great job against an excellent wrestler.” 

After fighting an injury for a large portion of the season, Luke Woosley returned at 132 pounds and won a divisional title. Woolsey pinned his quarterfinal (3:39) and semifinal (3:48) opponents before topping Carbon’s Brax Tapia 10-6 in the finals.  Dilyn Pentz finished 8th in the bracket as well.

At 120 pounds, Ryler Jorgensen took an impressive run to the finals. He opened with pins in the first round (1:19) and quarters (1:55) before taking the semi by major decision, 14-2. He won his finals match 10-3 over South Summit’s Bryce Pulver. Pulver dropped the Trojan’s Max Holtry out of the championship bracket in the quarters, but Holtry came back and placed eighth.

“Jorgensen did a great job in his match,” Wilson said. “He stayed in control of the match the entire time against an extremely good kid.” 

Carter Wardell had a huge tournament at 106 and finished second. He opened with two pins (1:44; 1:24) and won his semifinal match by major decision 11-3.  He lost a close finals match to Ben Lomond’s Evan Centeno by decision 4-2.

At 175, Lance Toone and Krew Galbraith recorded a 2-3 finish. Lance Toone advanced to the finals with two pins before losing to South Summit’s Ryker Woodard by decision 8-2. Galbraith fell to Woodard in the semis, but he came back strong in the consolation bracket to place third with a major decision and pin in his final match.

The 150-bracket recorded another Morgan 2-3 finish. Tyson Pace advanced to the finals on two pins (1:52; 2:26) and a major decision (14-4). In the final, Emery’s Damon Farley pinned Pace at the end of the second period. Farley also dropped Joseph Belinski out of the quarters in a 13-8 decision. Belinski came back and won four straight consolation matches (7-0 dec, 13-3 MD, pin 4:42, pin 1:13)  to take third.

The 138-pound finals featured Morgan’s Simoron Wardell and South Summit’s Zane Winter. Wardell fell by decision after pinning his way into the finals. Wardell’s pin in the semis was over teammate Maverick Guymon (5:24). Guymon won his next two matches to place third for the Trojan’s third 2-3 result.

Tavin Allen (126) lost a close battle in the opening round 8-6 before dropping into consolation and stringing together four victories (MD 12-0, MD 11-1, Dec 6-0, and Dec 7-6) to take third. Dawson Thompson placed 10th.

At 285 pounds, the Trojan’s Lane Henderson earned a third place finish with a pin (1:25) in the 3rd Place Match.  Henderson lost in the semifinals by pin.

Morgan’s 157-pound wrestlers earned fourth and sixth. Skyler Crowther fell in the semifinals to Emery and dropped into the consolation semifinals to take on the Trojans’ Nathan Dotson who lost in the quarterfinals and wrestled back to the consolation semis. Crowther earned a pin over Dotson, and then he lost a tough OT battle for third (SV-1 4-2).  Dotson dropped his fifth place match by fall to Ben Lomond. λ